Small wonder that the entire world thinks that we are their own personal police force.  Calling this great country “The Homeland” just exacerbates the image that America is Amerika, a militaristic force in the world, ready to rain down death and destruction everywhere we go.  Every time that word is used, cadenced stomping boots of hundreds of thousands of marching troops accompanied by missile launchers and tanks can be heard throughout the world.  Is that how we want to be perceived?

Another regrettable artifact from the Jingoistic Bush Administration, it is time to let this phrase go quietly into the night.

The Department of Homeland Security needs to be renamed or disaggregated into its component parts.  We are not Nazi Germany during World War II, Soviet Russia during the Cold War, or North Korea today.  We do not have Panzer Divisions, or thousands of jackbooted, goose-stepping troops poised to invade every country in the World on a moment’s notice.  We do not seek to overrun our neighbors, or impose any final solutions.  We just want to live in peace, or at least I think we do.  Am I wrong? 

But continuing to call our great country, the Homeland certainly gives the impression that we are Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, or North Korea.  It is now time to stop.